Proud Redhead

Most banks will give you a few checks, if it's an emergency & you need one. DS recently had to get a check from his bank for a purchase that wouldn't take any other form of payment. They gave him a sheet of 5 checks that had all of his banking info on them. It wouldn't be a bad idea for her to get a checkbook. We have one that will probably last us 10+ years, but it's a good idea to have checks, when you need them.

I used my checks from a different state for almost 5 years before they ran out and I bothered to order some more. I write more checks than some here for school things so maybe 40 a year total. Only when I ordered new checks did I find out that my bank had changed its routing number during a merger 2 years earlier. Amazed that my wrong address/wrong routing number checks always went through just fine.

DIS Veteran

I used my checks from a different state for almost 5 years before they ran out and I bothered to order some more. I write more checks than some here for school things so maybe 40 a year total. Only when I ordered new checks did I find out that my bank had changed its routing number during a merger 2 years earlier. Amazed that my wrong address/wrong routing number checks always went through just fine.

DIS Veteran

I did... and I don’t have checks. Haven’t written one in 11 years. Honestly... never felt like changing my name on my checkbook so after I got married I never ordered more! For the very, VERY few times I need to pay with a check, I do it through the “bill pay” feature through my bank. They cut the check and mail it to the intended recipient for you... I even get to save on stamps haha!

DIS Veteran

I recently went through this with a new roommate. She had no means of paying rent to our landlord because she did not have a checkbook. He did not take Venmo. She had to pay for money orders and then give them to him with no official record of if/when they were cashed, since they were pre-paid.

Get checks. I use one check a month, but it was less than the $25 fees you're speaking of to get checks. There's no reason NOT to have checks, even if you don't end up using them.

Life's too short to wear pants all the time

That was me when I got my first apartment after separating from my husband. I had to keep going to the bank to get checks written against my account because I didn't have any checks! This went on for months until I finally bought checks. The only checks I write are to my landlord. Sometimes, before I broke down and got the checkbook, if I needed a check for a school activity or school pictures or something I'd pay a relative and ask them to write a check for me, everything is electronic now.

DIS Veteran

I did... and I don’t have checks. Haven’t written one in 11 years. Honestly... never felt like changing my name on my checkbook so after I got married I never ordered more! For the very, VERY few times I need to pay with a check, I do it through the “bill pay” feature through my bank. They cut the check and mail it to the intended recipient for you... I even get to save on stamps haha!

I guess what I am getting at is, you are mature/independent enough to buy a house, yet you never ordered some checks? At some point, every adult will need to write a check for SOMETHING. Just blows my mind, that is all.

DIS Veteran

I guess what I am getting at is, you are mature/independent enough to buy a house, yet you never ordered some checks? At some point, every adult will need to write a check for SOMETHING. Just blows my mind, that is all.

We use so few and had so many left when we made our last move, I didn't bother ordering new ones with the correct information. For the past year or so I can't remember ever writing one except to put in the odd birthday card I mailed. I do keep a couple in my wallet just in case, although I can't imagine a situation anymore when I would need one.

DIS Veteran

You can buy the actual house without needing checks. What this thread illustrates is that it's possible that you can't actually be a homeowner without needing checks. I am really unsure how it's easier to ask people to write checks for you than it is to just order checks, which you can do online!

DIS Veteran

I wasn't implying you need checks to buy a house. It's a matter of being fully prepared for independence, I guess. From some past posts, I believe the OPs daughter had been living g at home to save up to buy a house. Seems like ordering some checks would be one of those "life things" a person would get to before "buy a house."